


happy birthday; i'm glad you exist

by the_ragnarok



Series: cat!Jon [12]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Birthday Party, Fluff, Genderfluid Character, M/M, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25838248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_ragnarok/pseuds/the_ragnarok
Summary: Martin's birthday is coming, and Jon is determined to have it go well.
Relationships: Jonathan Sims/Martin Blackwood
Series: cat!Jon [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622008
Comments: 42
Kudos: 386





	happy birthday; i'm glad you exist

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: some people genuinely can't remember dates, and that doesn't necessarily make them bad partners. Just incompatible with people to whom important dates matter a lot.

Just as Jon's lunch break nears, he receives an email notification: one of the advice columns he follows has updated. Very satisfactory. Now he'll have something to read during lunch. He used to work straight through, but Martin is always so pleased to hear when Jon eats meals and takes breaks. 

The letter writer is a woman. Most of them are. She writes about her boyfriend, who has ignored both her birthday and their anniversary. She sounds fairly distressed about that. 

_Dear LW: your youth is too precious to spend it with someone who doesn't remember your birthday. Any partner worth his salt would!_

At which point, Jon realizes that he has no idea when Martin's birthday is, or what's their anniversary. 

"Shit," Jon says, and stares blankly at the wall ahead.

* * *

Martin's Facebook lists his birthday as January first, which is a bit suspicious. Jon has no idea how else to figure it out, so he asks. 

"Oh, huh, give me a moment," Martin says. They are eating dinner in Jon's flat. "I haven't celebrated it in years. It should be about..." He frowns. "Oh. Wait, it's the 28th."

"Of this month?" Jon verifies. Martin nods. "That's two weeks from now!"

"Looks like, yeah." Martin shovels a forkful of pasta into his mouth. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, I haven't celebrated it in years."

"If you say so," Jon says, and digs into his own meal.

* * *

He keeps thinking about it. 

It isn't like Martin to play passive-aggressive mind games. If he says it doesn't matter, he won't be mad later that Jon took him at his word. 

But was it Jon's imagination, or did Martin seem a bit sad when he said he doesn't celebrate? Martin loves people so much that he can work with them all day and still want company in the evening. Jon would have thought Martin loves parties. 

A little more research seems to be in order.

Jon gets Michael's number from Sasha; Michael's the one who brought Martin to the romps, ergo, they must know each other outside of that space. Jon calls.

"Helen here," they say when they answer the phone. 

"Uh, hi, it's Jon. Do you have a minute?" Jon stares ahead, struck by the long-gone sense memory of messing with the phone cord while calling people. He stills his hands and tries to concentrate. 

"Sure! What's up?"

Jon's fingers keep twitching. It's bizarre. "Do you know, by any chance, how Martin feels about surprise parties?"

* * *

Helen has a lot of useful ideas, as well as some bewildering enthusiasm. They volunteer to take care of the guest list - "Do you know who to invite?" they ask, when Jon protests he can do that, and he falls shamefully silent - and help Jon set up a list of necessary tasks. With everything written down, the party feels much more doable.

Martin's having another difficult week, so keeping the goings-on from him isn't difficult. Helen wants to pretend on the day of the birthday that they've all forgotten, but Jon strongly objects. He'd seen this episode in too many sitcoms. He is not letting Martin spend the day sad and dejected just to heighten some surprise, that's bullshit.

So in addition to the usual good morning hug, Jon texts Martin, _Happy birthday. I'm glad you exist._ He then feels awkward about it up until Martin texts him back a string of smiling emojis and hearts. That helps Jon feel a bit more confident as he sends, _Will you come to mine tonight?_

He bites his lip as he waits for the answer, heart pounding. What if Martin can't make it after all?

_ofc! looking forward to it. love you :-*_

Alright. That just leaves... all the other organizational issues. Jon breathes out. He can do this. For Martin, he _will_ do this.

* * *

The cake, snacks, and decorations are straightforward enough. Georgie happily agrees to be in charge of the musical selection. Jon's gift for Martin is ready and wrapped. Now all that's left to do is pace his flat and try not to go insane from the itchy realization that all of these strangers are in his house.

Georgie arrived first, to Jon's eternal gratitude, and Sasha and Helen arrived shortly afterwards. Thank whatever for small graces, because then an entire horde of people Jon never heard about started appearing. Helen greeted all of them and directed them to help set up.

Everyone is talking, and Jon is getting a splitting headache. He does his best to ignore it. Oh, God, don't let him be rude to Martin's friends. Don't let him snap at anyone on Martin's birthday.

Then Jon's phone chirps, informing him that Martin is on his way, and Jon's nervousness turns to a whole new channel.

_What if he hates it?_ Jon looks helplessly at the people milling around his flat. There's maybe twelve of them, but Jon's flat isn't very large. _What if all he wants is a quiet evening at home, and I'm going to force him to be nice and polite until everyone leaves? What if he's mad at me?_

Jon shakes his head strongly. He asks Helen's help, and she gleefully tells everyone to shut up and take cover. Jon, in a wild burst of terror, considers that this would be his last opportunity to ask everyone to leave and pretend nothing happened.

But then there is the buzz of Jon's intercom, and it's too late to do anything. He presses the key and unlocks the door, and has just enough time to cover his ears before Martin walks in and everyone jumps up and yells, "Surprise!"

Martin stares, open-mouthed, taking in the guests, the decorations. His lips tremble.

_Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit._ Jon starts to formulate panicked apologies when Martin turns to him with shining eyes and says, "You did this for me?" Even Jon can't mistake the hushed reverence in his voice. 

"Um. I had help," Jon temporizes. "Happy birthday? Would you like a hug?"

The sentence is barely out of his mouth before Martin's hugging him, harder than he usually does, like he'd forgotten to be careful for once. Jon holds him back tightly, and with Martin holding him, all the noise and fear settle down into something manageable. 

They break apart, abashed, when someone wolf-whistles. Probably Tim.

Which reminds Jon: he gestures to Martin's gifts, waiting on the designated table, with Jon's on top. "You've got presents." 

Martin's eyes widen. He takes Jon's gift, reads Jon's card (which is, Jon is aware, painfully plain - just "Happy birthday," and his signature) and unwraps it with reverent care. He blinks at the contents. "Is that...?"

"What it says on the cover," Jon says.

What the cover says is, _Assorted Poems, by Martin K. Blackwood._ Jon had gotten them professionally bound by a friend of Tim's. He watches as Martin leafs through the book, heart beating fast again: what if he chose the wrong poems? Clearly this is a terrible gift. Why would Martin want his own poems given back to him?

Martin weakly says, "I love you," and starts crying. "This is the nicest thing anyone's ever gotten me."

There is really nothing to do except hug Martin again.


End file.
